The Catholic Bishops of Nigeria have warned that unless the government seriously addresses the issues of widespread poverty, hardship and corruption, the African nation should be ready to contend with more protests in the near future.
The alarm was launched on August 25 by Archbishop Lucius Ugorji of Owerri, the President of Catholic Bishops Conference (CBCN) as the bishops gathered in Auchi, Edo State, for their second general Assembly this year.
In recent weeks Nigeria has been facing significant unrest due to widespread protests against President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms to address the nation’s growing debt burden and budget deficit.
The protests, that began in early August under the hashtag #EndBadGovernance, are driven by growing frustration over severe economic hardships, including soaring inflation, a weak currency, and the removal of fuel subsidies. These issues have led to a dramatic increase in the cost of living, with many Nigerians struggling to afford basic necessities like food and transportation. President Tinubu’s economic reforms, which were intended to stabilize the economy, have instead exacerbated the situation for many Nigerians, leading to widespread discontent.
The protests, however, have turned violent in some areas, particularly in northern states like Kaduna, where several demonstrators have been killed. Curfews have been imposed in various states, including Kano and Plateau, to curb the unrest.
Commenting these developments at the opening of the assembly, Archbishop Ugorji, condemned the violence by some rioters, but also the killing of some protesting youths by security forces. He remarked that: “As long as the nation is afflicted with poverty, hardship and corruption, and as long as the future of youths in our nation remains bleak, we continue to experience protest.”
He, therefore, criticized the federal government’s response, in particular that of some government officials who, “rather than address the ill”, are shifting their responsibility on others, “looking for a scapegoat”.

In a new letter, Pope Francis touts the benefits of reading literature for priests and all those seeking to enrich their lives as Christian believers. Though he said his letter was originally intended for men receiving priestly formation, he said all Christians — not just those involved in ministry — would benefit from incorporating poetry and literature into their personal times of study or leisure.
“Time spent reading may well open up new interior spaces that help us to avoid becoming trapped by a few obsessive thoughts that can stand in the way of our personal growth,” he writes in his letter, which is dated July 17 and comes at the height of the summer when many people are taking time off to rest and recreate.
The 87-year-old pontiff believes reading literature enables individual people to learn the art of reflective personal discernment, empathy with others, as well as entering a dialogue with the culture of our times, in a more profound way than modern audiovisual media.
“We are enriched by what we receive from the author and this allows us in turn to grow inwardly, so that each new work we read will renew and expand our worldview,” he writes. In his letter, the Holy Father praises seminaries that incorporated times dedicated to the reading of literature and poetry, countering the current “obsession with ‘screens’ and with toxic, superficial, and violent fake news.”
Reading, the pope insists, should not be approached with an arduous or rigid “sense of duty” but rather with a flexibility, openness, and “readiness to learn.” “Everyone will find books that speak to their own lives and become authentic companions for their journey. There is nothing more counterproductive than reading something out of a sense of duty, making considerable effort simply because others have said it is essential,” he shares.
Drawing upon the example of St. Paul, who “gathered the seeds of pagan poetry,” the pope said Christians who are knowledgeable of the literary works of their times can bring others closer to God through the person of Jesus Christ.
“We must always take care never to lose sight of the ‘flesh’ of Jesus Christ: that flesh made of passions, emotions, and feelings, words that challenge and console, hands that touch and heal, looks that liberate and encourage, flesh made of hospitality, forgiveness, indignation, courage, fearlessness; in a word, love,” Pope Francis writes.
Through “listening to the voice of others” and “seeing through the eyes of others,” Pope Francis believes there is a kind of wisdom and richness instilled in readers of the literary word that seeks truth, broadens perspectives, and enhances critical and cognitive thinking.
“It opens our human words to welcome the Word that is already present in human speech, not when it sees itself as knowledge that is already full, definitive and complete,” he observes, “but when it becomes a listening and expectation of the One who comes to make all things new (cf. Rv 21:5).

Of the group of priests detained in Nicaragua, seven were exiled this Wednesday, 7 August, and sent to Rome, where they arrived Thursday afternoon. The priests are Víctor Godoy, Jairo Pravia, Silvio Romero, Edgar Sacasa, Harvin Torres, Ulises Vega, and Marlon Velázquez.
The information was confirmed the same day in the afternoon by Nicaragua’s government in a press release that stated, “Seven Nicaraguan priests have left Nicaragua for Rome, Italy”. The priests belong to the dioceses of Matagalpa and Estelí, and were being held at the Nuestra Señora de Fátima Seminary in Managua.
According to Nicaraguan media, the administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, Father Frutos Valle, who was detained on 26 July, was not among those expelled from the country.
This is the fifth time Nicaragua has exiled groups of priests: in October 2022 and February 2023 several priests were sent to the United States; in October 2023 and January 2024, two other groups of priests, along with two bishops – Rolando Álvarez and Isidoro Mora were sent to Rome.
Meanwhile, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Arturo McFields Yescas, confirmed on Wednesday that the government led by Daniel Ortega had ordered the expulsion of the Brazilian ambassador to Nicaragua, Breno de Souza Brasil Días da Costa, for not attending the celebration of the 45th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution on 19 July, to which he was invited. For its part, the Brazilian government decided this Thursday to expel the Nicaraguan ambassador, Fulvia Castro, in “reciprocity” to the step taken by the authorities in Managua.

“Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace” is the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the next “World Day of Peace,” held on January 1, 2025. “Only from a genuine conversion on all levels – personal, local and international – will true peace be able to flourish,” says the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in its statement on the theme for the 2025 World Day of Peace.
In the statement, the Dicastery adds that peace comes not only from an end to conflicts, “but also in a new reality in which wounds are healed and each person’s dignity is recognized”.
The World Day of Peace is observed each year on January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Since its establishment in 1967 by Pope St Paul VI, the Popes have taken the occasion to offer magisterial reflections in Messages for the day, dealing with topics such as the United Nations, human rights, diplomacy, and economic development. The theme chosen by the Holy Father for the World Day of Peace for 2025 is “Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace”, corresponding to “the biblical and ecclesial understanding of the Jubilee Year”.
In its statement, the Dicastery says the theme is inspired by Pope Francis’s encyclical letters Laudato sí and Fratelli tutti, “and above all by the concepts of Hope and Forgiveness, which are at the heart of the Jubilee, a time for conversion that calls us not to condemn, but instead to bring about reconciliation and peace”. The Dicastery goes on to note by “considering the reality of conflicts and social sins afflicting humanity today in light of the hope inherent in the Jubilee tradition of the forgiveness of sins and the cancellation of debts, together with the reflections of the Fathers of the Church in this regard, concrete principles emerge that can lead to a much needed spiritual, social, economic, ecological and cultural change”.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, has addressed Christians in the Holy Land with a heartfelt message in view of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated on August 15. In his message, the Patriarch expresses his dismay over the “terrible war” that has caused immense suffering.
He laments that, despite months of war, the present situation is still filled with so much hatred, resentment, and violence, making it increasingly difficult to find solutions to the conflict raging in the Middle East. Patriarch Pizzaballa writes that it has become “increasingly difficult to envision a conclusion to this conflict, whose impact on the lives of our people is greater and more painful than ever before.”
He notes that it is “increasingly difficult to find people and institutions with whom a dialogue about the future and peaceful relations” can take place in the current situation, marked by “so much violence and, admittedly, anger.”
While the situation is desperate, the days ahead offer opportunities for turning the tide on the conflict, especially the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, Patriarch Pizzaballa points out.
He invites everyone to pray earnestly for reconciliation and peace, entrusting our prayers to the intercession of the Blessed Mother on the Feast of the Assumption, before or following the celebration of the Eucharist or any other suitable time.
Prayers for peace must accompany our efforts in helping and accompanying those suffering, Patriarch Pizzaballa notes.
In the face of the many words of hatred we hear spoken too often, he says, “we would like to offer our prayer, which consists of words of reconciliation and peace.”

As Iraq marks the 10th anniversary of the Yazidi genocide by the so-called Islamic State group, and of the subsequent tragic Christian exodus from Iraq, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako the Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad has urged Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders “to stand together” against those who continue to fuel “hatred and extremism” threatening to inflame the entire Middle East. They “must raise their voices loudly,” the Chaldean Patriarch said in a message for the occasion.
Early in August 2014, the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) launched a campaign of mass atrocities to achieve the religious and ethnic cleansing of religious minority groups in the two countries. ISIS militants first rampaged through the Yazidi heartland of Sinjar, murdering men, abducting and enslaving women and children, and destroying homes and businesses, affecting tens of thousands of people.
More than 3,000 Yazidi men, women and children were killed, and at least 6,800 more — for the most part women and children — were abducted. Then, on the night of August 6, ISIS went after Iraqi Christians, forcing 120,000 to flee Mosul and the Nineveh Plains.
Ten years on, “people in the Middle East are still living in fear and despair,” Patriarch Sako noted, including in the Holy Land, where the “escalation of war has reached its peak.”
He warned that unless the international community does something to stop the conflict, which is claiming thousands of lives, destroying homes and infrastructure, the people in the region will continue to live “in catastrophic conditions”. According to the Chaldean Patriarch, “Today, more than ever, we need to learn lessons from the past so that we never allow tragedies to happen again,” because, as Pope Francis has repeatedly said, “war is never a solution” and, in fact, with war, “everyone loses.” “We must work to achieve peace and stability by overcoming evil with good; war with dialogue and understanding; exclusion with respect for the rights of people, self-determination and respect for international law!” he emphasized.
For their part Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders should join their forces to fight those who incite hatred and extremism that fuels wars. Concluding his message, Patriarch Sako called upon all Churches in the Middle East to bear witness to hope ahead of the 2025 Jubilee, which will have hope as its overarching theme. He also invited Christian and Muslim religious leaders to organize special prayers for peace mosques and churches.

The Wimbum people in the Diocese of Kumbo, in the north west of Cameroon, have petitioned the Vatican over an alleged “desecration of their culture by the Church”.
In letter addressed to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith dated 17 July, Wimbum leaders said their cultural heritage was threatened by the Church’s “cultural appropriation” of their rituals. “Recent actions by the Catholic Church have incorporated elements from our secret societies … into their processions. These processions are outright copyrights of our traditional sacred societies and artefacts,” they said. “By appropriating our sacred practices within Church premises, Catholic priests inadvertently usurp the authorities of our kings.”
The appeal came days after the Nso people of the same diocese complained to Bishop George Nkuo of Kumbo of similar practices in their community. Videos on social media show church groups in the Wimbum and Nso communities employing traditional masquerades in their processions. Tah Nformi Emmanuel Kongyu, a former pastor and who now practices traditional religion, said that the Church had had lived peaceably with traditional practices until recently. “What’s happening right now is that the African traditionalists are protesting that the Church is overstepping their bounds in the practice of inculturation,” he said.
Fr Eboka John, communications director for the Diocese of Mamfe in south-west Cameroon, said the inculturation of Christianity had several facets. “Inculturation means that we let the Gospel values shed light on culture,” he told. He said this can only happen when Church leaders understand both Gospel values and the values of a particular culture. “For instance, in the Nso culture, we need to ask the question: what is the use of masquerades? If we are to practice good inculturation in Nso, we are supposed to know what the masquerade means for the Nso man, so that if we must bring masquerades to Church in the name of inculturation, we should know what message we are passing across.” He said Catholic priests were taught about African traditional religions in their training and formation.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly its eastern regions, has been subject to conflict for decades. Violence between local militia and foreign rebel groups has led to widespread displacement and instability. According to the Vatican’s Fides News Agency, reporting from Kinshasa, the Bishops’ Conference of the Democratic Republic of Congo (CENCO) has called for peace and the implementation of the ceasefire signed in Luanda, Angola on July 30.
The agreement, signed by the governments of Congo and Rwanda, called for a ceasefire to be put into effect at midnight on August 4. However, the bishops said they were concerned that this new ceasefire might not be respected. They said that “all previous agreements have been violated without effort and the various reports on this have not led to any sanctions.”
This prompted the bishops to intervene, expressing their condemnation and insisting on the need for both parties to respect the agreement.
CENCO highlighted the need to raise global awareness of the conflict in this region, comparing its importance to that of the Russo-Ukraine war.
This is a conflict with severe consequences on the local population, including the displacement of 1.7 million people, according to the UN, bringing the total number of internally displaced persons in Congo to over 7 million.
UNICEF representative Grant Leaity says hundreds of thousands of children are prevented from attending schools and are being forced to flee their homes because of the violence.

In the wake of recent events in Britain, which has also seen some of its worst levels of antisemitism in the first half of any year, UK faith leaders continue to condemn violent anti-Muslim riots across the country.
They have united against the hatred and brutality, saying that every British citizen “has a right to be respected and a responsibility to respect others”.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said he joins them in prayer, spreading hope for peace to all the communities affected, for those left injured, the police seeking to restore public order, and for places of worship and people of faith and goodwill.
“Violent protest turns people away from the cause,” Archbishop Welby affirmed in an interview with BBC Radio 4, emphasizing that “peaceful protests will have ten thousand times more impact” than criminally violent riots regardless of the cause.
The message follows concerns for safety in several UK regions that continue to rise as more people riot and take to the streets of London, Birmingham, Yorkshire and Merseyside, all seeing mass violence and of arrests.
The official agency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales for domestic social action (CSAN) recently expressed their solidarity, saying the Church seeks to bring hope and agency to the marginalised communities which have fallen victim to the violent outbreaks.

In an attempt to calm rising tensions in Zimbabwe, Catholic Bishops have issued a Pastoral Statement denouncing arbitrary arrests and calling for tolerance and restraint in the country.
“Recently, we have seen the wanton arrests of citizens under frivolous charges. Some of the arrested have been denied bail. Surely, even those who ‘have committed crimes’ deserve to be treated in a just manner. They cannot be denied their fundamental rights. Here, the adage, ‘justice delayed is justice denied,’ rings true. Let us safeguard the human rights enshrined in our Constitution,” reads the Bishops’ Statement.
The Bishops say they have observed that in preparation for “this important meeting, we are seeing the resurgence of some ugly vices. This is sad, for in a democratic nation that knows the value of human dignity, freedom of association and speech, such vices have no place as they contradict some of the fundamental values that form the bedrock of our national Constitution,” the Bishops assert. Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action appeal urging the Government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa to end the crackdown and silencing of activists as well as members of the Opposition.
Over 160 activists, political party members, student union activists and civil society members have been arrested on charges relating to disorderly conduct, criminal nuisance and plotting to incite protests. Some of those detained were said to have been severely tortured and sustained injuries that required hospitalisation.